Serpentine
by Zephyr5
Summary: Challenge Response: Harry is abandoned aged four. A magical serpent takes him in and brings him up. He grows up only understanding Parseltongue, wanting to be a real snake, and disliking human beings. Then he decides a certain Dark Lord is his mate...
1. The Growing Years

Category: Book

Sub Category: Harry Potter

Series Title: Serpentine

Title: The Growing Years

Genres: General - cause I can't think what else it would go under, really

Language: English

Author: Zephyr5

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Challenge Response: Harry was abandoned by the Dursleys at the tender age of four, and a magical serpent took him in and brought him up. He grows up into a wild child who only understands Parseltongue, wants to be a real snake, and dislikes human beings in general. When he decides that a certain Dark Lord should be his mate, all hell breaks out.

Warnings: male/male relationship later, dark!Harry, confused!Snape, character death, mention of bestiality. Oh, and everyone's probably horribly OOC…

Spoiler Warnings: none - this is AU through and through (obviously, since he gets abandoned before the books really get started)

Disclaimers: I do not own the canon Harry Potter characters who make an appearance, I do, however, own the idea of Nye, shadow vipers, and the plot.

AN: This is my response to the 'Child of Serpent' set by PxW at thesilversnitch, and my first completed Harry Potter fic - please review :)

Challenge Instructions: 1.The magical serpent can be anything as long as it is part snake or takes snake form. 2. Harry has to learn to become an animagus and takes the form of a silver or black serpent. 3. Voldemort initially thinks Harry is just an unknown species of poisonous snake and takes him as a pet. 4. There must be a scene where Harry fiercely defends his mate.

AN: Edited to catch a couple of typos and a continuity error - hopefully my Corvine muse will now return.

**The Growing Years**

He choked on dust as the car sped away from him, the people within not once looking back - refusing to acknowledge the child they had just abandoned in the forest. To be fair, it was possible that they assumed someone would find him - Clipstone forest was a reasonably popular place after all, what with a holiday resort sited within its boundaries. To be honest though, it was more likely that they just didn't care whether he was found or whether he met some grisly and awful fate - such as eating poisonous berries and dying. As long as it couldn't be tied to them, they had no worries, and there was little chance of the boy attempting to identify them - they'd made it clear what would happen if he darkened their doorstep again.

The four year old's eyes watered where fine dust particles had blown into them. He blinked and sniffled a couple of times, sneezing as more dust irritated his nose. Reaching up a grubby hand, he pulled off the bottle-lens glasses on his face and wiped in vain at the tears spilling down his cheeks. Giving it up as a hopeless task, he carefully replaced the glasses, well aware that there would be no mending them if he broke them now. He was quite sure his relatives were gone for good, and although he thought he should be upset at this, he couldn't seem to find any emotion except relief, as though a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

It was a nice enough day - a few clouds and a gentle breeze, but otherwise warm and sunny - and he had nothing better to do, and no one to tell him to do otherwise, so Harry sat down on the grassy bank beside the dusty road, and then lay back, basking in the sunshine. He was hungry, but he'd actually managed to sneak some food at breakfast, so he knew he wouldn't have to worry about eating anything for a good while yet. He'd learned just how long he could go without food under his relative's harsh 'discipline'.

Water was another matter entirely, but this was 'the outdoors', and in England to boot. The amount it rained in this country, Harry rather thought it might be more of a problem when it came to finding food - it wasn't like surviving in his relatives' house had prepared him for this.

Sighing heavily, he decided to wait and see what turned up, and soon, lulled by the sun's warmth and the sound of the wind whispering through the trees above, he drifted off to sleep.

---

"I sssmell two-legsss-young… Oh yesss… Tender, sssweet…unguarded…" The hissing, whispering voice nudged him out of his dreams, and Harry awoke with a start. The sun had dimmed, hidden behind a somewhat thicker layer of cloud than had been present in the sky when he had first lain down. It looked ominously dark, as though the pleasant weather planned to turn as night fell.

The wind had dropped to almost nothing, the trees and bushes still and silent, and yet… He could hear a rustling noise, coming closer, closer, closer…

"Lunch!" He shot from his sitting position on the bank into the middle of the road at the hissed exclamation, narrowly missing being bitten by a large, white snake. A large, white, _winged_ snake… He sat down in shock, gaping soundlessly. The…snake…seemed amused, weaving from side to side and flickering its tongue at him.

"Sssilly prey." He heard it chide him, hearing it as sibilant hisses, and yet understanding it perfectly. "You ssshould not try to run from me…" He blinked rapidly as it advanced, pinned by its almost hypnotic gaze.

"W-why do y-you w-want t-to eat m-me?" He managed to squeak out, barely aware that the words in his mind slipped off his tongue in hisses similar to those the creature had spoken moments earlier. The serpent froze, as if it couldn't believe that he was talking back to it, then furled its wings tightly to its back and lowered itself so that it no longer towered above him, but regarded him from a height similar to his own.

"Very interesssting…" It hissed, making a careful circuit of him, testing the air around him from every angle. "Blood magic…broken. Tracesss of powerful magic…twisssted in itsss purpossse. Powerful magic both of your own, and unknowingly ssstolen… Yesss, very interesssting. And you ssspeak the sssnake-tongue… Maybe I won't eat you after all…" Harry wasn't quite sure what to make of that, so he stammered the first thing that came to mind.

"M-magic?" He'd heard the word before, but always in a negative sense - generally when something weird had happened in the house that couldn't be explained, like the time all the lightbulbs in the living room had exploded - and usually in the same sentence as the words 'does', 'not', and 'exist'.

"Magic." The snake agreed. Or maybe disagreed. Harry wasn't sure, since he hadn't really known what he'd meant when he'd stammered the word. "My name isss Nye. What isss your name, young one?"

"Harry." He responded automatically. That was his name after all, even if his relatives had always referred to him as 'boy' or 'freak'. The snake cocked its head to one side, considering.

"Well…until you dissscover a better one, that name will do I sssupossse." Its tongue flicked out again - somehow tasting the air to see what was around, Harry realised. "I mussst find other prey now. Wait here until I return for you…Harry… If another threatensss you, sssay my name and they will underssstand that you are not to be harmed. I will return sssoon…" With that, Nye slithered past him, and disappeared into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the road. Harry had nothing better to do, and since he seemed to have acquired himself a friend, he obediently returned to the side of the road, to resume napping whilst he waited for the snake to return. This time, however, he consciously kept alert for any sounds that might indicate danger…

---

Somewhat surprisingly, it was not anything natural that next disturbed his slumber. This time it was the click and whir of bicycles, and the good-natured chatter of their riders. Harry didn't wait around to see what their reactions would be. He had never known any other people than those who had earlier abandoned him, and as he knew your relatives were supposed to treat you with love and kindness, he had absolutely no desire to be picked up by anyone else. He doubted he would survive their 'love' - especially if they decided, as his relatives had, that he was a 'freak'.

The cyclists were too caught up in their own holiday enjoyment to notice the wildly swaying bushes where Harry had dived out of sight, and even if they had, would likely not have thought anything of it. Harry was just grateful when they passed out of sight, leaving a smaller cloud of dust behind than the car had. Deciding he was safer where he was, Harry curled into a ball and tried not to think of anything. Tried not to think of the soft, green eyes he saw in his mind when he was scared. Tried not to think of the glasses he dreamed of holding that were not his own. Most of all, tried not to think of the green light and high-pitched scream that haunted his frequent nightmares.

"What hasss you ssscared, young one?" Harry jerked in surprise when Nye spoke behind him. He quickly calmed himself when he realised it was just the winged snake.

"Ssome people, they went passt. I hid from them." The snake seemed to understand his disjointed explanation, and also seemed to find his slight lisp - not quite as pronounced as a snake's, but more pronounced than a human - amusing.

"I caught enough food for both of usss. Come." Quickly Harry wriggled out of the bush and followed Nye as the snake wound its way through the forest undergrowth. After a while, they came to a grassy clearing, where a large oak had toppled over. The ground dropped away beneath the oak's trunk, and had piled up on the other side, creating the ideal site for a badger's sett. In fact, it appeared that badgers _had_, at one point, lived there. But there were none in residence now - probably with good reason given Nye's size.

The tunnels were just the right size for the skinny, four-year-old Harry, although the snake had to fold its wings tightly to its sides to scrape through. The chambers though… The chambers were easily large enough to hold Nye and Harry, and probably would be for some time to come. Harry suspected that Nye had done some enlarging of the 'rooms', since he couldn't understand why badgers would want - or need - so much vertical space.

The food Nye had spoken of turned out to be two young rabbits, and it was at that point that Harry realised another problem they might have. The rabbits were unskinned and raw.

Now, skinning and cooking his rabbit wouldn't have been a problem for Harry, since he had seen his aunt doing it before, except he didn't have a knife, and he had no way of making a fire - or pots in which to cook the creature. Nye, however, ignored his protestations that he couldn't eat raw rabbit, and without the tools to skin and cook the creature, Harry knew that he would eventually be forced to eat it raw, or simply starve.

It took another two days - in which time Nye had eaten the original rabbit and provided another, fresh, rabbit - before his hunger became great enough for him to surrender and greedily rip into the young creature's tender flesh. He learned, in the process, that human teeth were a lot blunter - and rabbit skin a lot tougher - than he had thought. But the raw meat went down, and stayed down, and for the first time in his life, Harry knew what it felt like to be full.

---

It wasn't until his adult teeth began to replace his milk teeth that Harry learned to use the sharp shards of flint that littered the ground as a knife. By this point he was used to raw meat, and the idea of cooking it no longer seemed as important as it once had.

---

When Harry and Nye's seventh summer together came, driven by the magic Harry was beginning to display in accidental bursts, the snake began to tell Harry what it knew of magic, the wizarding world, the 'muggle' world, and about Harry himself…

"Ssso I'm a wizard." Harry hissed, having picked up a true snake's accent to his words after living with Nye for seven years. "And I can do magic. But how?" Nye shrugged - a movement of the wings that no longer seemed odd to Harry, although it had at first.

"Mossst wizardsss I have ssseen ussse sssticksss that ssshine with magic. They wave them around and make noisssesss, and thingsss happen." Harry tilted his head to one side, thoughtfully.

"Can you do magic?" He asked the winged snake. Nye nodded.

"Yesss. I sssee the magic within me and I know where I want it to go and what it ssshould do. Sssome wizardsss have a limited ability to do thisss. Sssome wizardsss I have ssseen ussse thisss to change their ssshape - become creaturesss like dogsss and catsss." Harry brightened at this last pronouncement.

"Maybe I can become a sssnake after all." He hissed gleefully. "I do not like thisss ssshape." He gestured angrily at himself. "Do you know how they do it Nye? Can you teach me?" The winged snake shrugged again.

"The onesss I sssaw, they reached down into the core of themssselvesss and found the creature within their sssoul. Thisss form they wrapped their magic around and then…" a fluttery motion of its wings, "they were changed." It was a vague description, but Harry was determined. He'd found nothing to endear himself to humans in his seven feral years, and wanted nothing more than to become a winged snake like his friend, Nye, but he would happily settle for a simple snake - or even another form entirely, as long as it wasn't human.

Closing his eyes, he reached down into the core of his being, as Nye had taught him to do when he had been learning how to understand and live in the forest. He looked deep inside, and was unsurprised when the creature he found within was a long, slender, black serpent, with silver, lightning-bolt shaped markings running down its spine. Pleased, he reached out with a separate part of his mind and grasped the energy that was his magic, pulling it towards the serpent's form in his soul and forcing the two to merge. There was a moment where every bone in his body seemed to liquefy and shift, and then, when he opened his eyes, his perspective had changed.

Where the human Harry had been sitting, there was now coiled a slender, black serpent, with silver, lightning-bolt shaped markings running down its spine. Nye hissed, impressed with the form that Harry had achieved.

"A ssshadow viper. Impresssive." Harry preened and uncoiled, slithering around the underground chamber, and revealing his total length to be a little over 5 ½ feet. "Perhapsss now you have another form, you wisssh to choossse another name?" Harry considered this. He supposed it would be better to leave his old name with his old form, but he didn't really know what sort of name he should choose for his new form.

"What would you sssugessst?" He asked Nye. The winged snake considered him for a long moment, tongue flicking in and out as it thought.

"How doesss Hadesss sssound?" Harry - _Hades_ - smiled a serpent's smile.

"Sssoundsss perfect."

---

If Harry had thought, upon becoming Hades, that he had left his human form behind once and for all, he was roughly disabused of the notion by Nye, who decided that his success in performing the shape-shifting magic warranted his learning - or attempting to learn - more magic. Magic that could only be done by a human, and only learned by aping wizards and witches practising - both legally and illegally - magic in the forest.

The first snag they met was Harry's inability to understand human speech. He'd been with Nye, speaking Parseltongue, for seven of his eleven years, and in that time had come to forget his first tongue - English - entirely. Fortunately Nye _could_ understand the noises the humans made, enough to translate them into the equivalent in Parseltongue, although the sounds made no sense.

The second snag they met was Harry's difficulties in focussing his magic. It appeared that it was for this reason that wizards and witches used the 'magic sticks', and were relatively useless at performing magic without them. Most could only manage to summon their magic sticks to them from nearby, and some were unable to do even that. That particular problem was solved by Nye again, who reasoned that if the magic sticks were merely to aid concentration, it should be simple enough to substitute, say, an ordinary stick. Unfortunately this method proved to be a bit hit-and-miss, but after Harry accidentally started the largest forest fire in decades trying to use a magic stick a wizard 'lost' in fright - having caught sight of Nye - they decided that hit-and-miss was far safer.

When Harry finally lost all patience with sticks, they discovered that he found it far easier to simply channel his magic directly - although in a slightly more structured manner than Nye - and the winged snake then had him practise reaching for his magical energy through meditation until he was able to grasp it at a moment's notice. Then he tried casting spells that way - channelling the power through his hands - and although the stronger spells left him with a tight, itchy feeling across his skin - Nye thought it sounded like when a moult was due - his casting success rate was perfect, although his control of the strength of the spell took longer to perfect.

---

It was during the spring of his eleventh year with Nye, just under two full years after he had finally mastered his magic, that he first experienced the instinct to breed - as a snake - and had his first wet-dream - as a human. Nye was supportive, but insisted that he remain as Harry for that spring - and all subsequent springs. He was only permitted to become Hades during the other three seasons, when there was no risk of him breeding with a real snake - the outcome of which was uncertain, and highly dangerous. Nye was as insistent that - were he to take a mate - Harry would have to pick a human, as he was about when he could be Hades and when not.

So Harry seethed during the spring months, and vowed that he would never take a mate, as he wanted nothing to do with humans. Nye simply ignored the sulking teenager, and kept his amusement at Harry's vow of celibacy to himself. He did, however, allow the teenage boy all the space and time he needed to discover the unexpected pleasure of touching himself.

Fortunately one of the spells Harry had learned from his unwitting teachers was a cleansing spell, and though it could not disguise the distinct and acrid smell of semen from either Nye's or Hades' questing tongues, Nye was discreet enough to never mention it - or Harry's blushes.

---

But whilst their home remained, so far, untouched by the troubles of the world outside, all was not well, and the ripples caused by disturbances in the magical world were slowly making themselves felt in the forest's magical communities. Witches and wizards were no longer a common sight, unless they were dressed in black robes and smooth, white masks - neither hiding the scents of fear and death that cloaked them like invisible shrouds. Some of the magical creatures who lived within the forest, such as the werewolves, howled their support of a new power amongst the wizards. A new power with an old name - an old terror brought back to life.

In Harry's seventh year with Nye, a dark wizard had been rumoured to be living a half-life by attaching his spirit to other creatures, and then forcing his host to sustain his existence by drinking unicorn blood. He had manipulated one of his unfortunate victims into a school of magic, in Scotland, named 'Hogwarts', and had then tried to steal the philosopher's stone being guarded there. He had been foiled in this attempt by the Headmaster of the school, although things got a bit vague when it came to whether the wizard's spirit had been destroyed with its host, or had simply fled to bide its time and find another.

Nye had mentioned the incident to Harry, and the boy had instantly asked what made the dark wizard 'dark' - and why the other humans feared to say his name. The winged snake had explained about Voldemort's persecution of 'muggles' and 'half-bloods', and had then explained how humans insisted on classifying magic by its means, rather than its ends. Harry had listened carefully, only twice asking for expansion on a point, and had then asked about the dark wizard's attitude towards magical creatures. Nye had admitted ignorance, but had not been surprised when Harry remarked that perhaps he wasn't alone in disliking the rest of humanity.

When Nye had pointed out that 'humanity' included pure-blood wizards, Harry had countered with the fact that he would hardly be a freak amongst his 'own kind' - and that perhaps he had narrowed his definition of the humans he loathed so much.

In Harry's eighth year with Nye, the same dark wizard was instrumental in awakening a basilisk - the news shot through the serpent community like wildfire. It seemed that not only did Voldemort have a penchant for reptiles, he could speak Parseltongue. The word was out - the dark wizard was persona most grata, and if some serpents cautiously chose to remain neutral until the lines of the coming conflict were clearer, there were none who would go against him.

It also became clear to Nye that Harry was taking more and more of an interest in the dark wizard who, like himself, appeared to have a grudge against much of humanity, and an affinity with serpents.

In Harry's ninth year with Nye, there was no news of Voldemort. In fact, the most interesting thing that happened all year was the escape of Sirius Black - a prisoner in Azkaban - and his subsequent death at the lips of the Dementors sent to guard the Hogwarts perimeter. Harry was bitterly disappointed, but realised without Nye's prompting that, like a serpent, Voldemort was most likely plotting and planning for some event in the future.

Harry's ninth year speculations were proven correct the very next year, when Voldemort rigged a wizarding tournament at Hogwarts and used the blood of a kidnapped student - violently opposed to the dark wizard and his aims - to resurrect himself. The death of the muggle-born Hermione Granger, marked by Voldemort's trademark Morsmorde mark in the sky, rocked the wizarding world.

Harry nagged Nye insistently for news of the dark wizard after that, and eventually the winged snake acceded to the boy's demands and went to see the wizard for himself. He found Voldemort to have a serpent's tongue when it came to speaking, and the ruthlessness and calculated cruelty of an elder dragon. He also took the opportunity to taste the man's wounded magic, and found, not entirely to his surprise, that its taste was that of the stolen magic he had tasted on Harry, ten years earlier. Nye knew then that he had to bring the two together. Even without Voldemort having - albeit accidentally - bound himself and Harry together when the boy was an infant - whilst trying to kill him - he could sense that the two were meant to be together. Whether that togetherness took the form of a master and servant, partners, or mates, he didn't know, but he did know that they would be a force to be reckoned with…


	2. The Serpent Ascendant

Category: Book

Sub Category: Harry Potter

Series Title: Serpentine

Title: The Serpent Ascendant

Genres: General - cause I can't think what else it would go under, really

Language: English

Author: Zephyr5

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Challenge Response: Harry was abandoned by the Dursleys at the tender age of four, and a magical serpent took him in and brought him up. He grows up into a wild child who only understands Parseltongue, wants to be a real snake, and dislikes human beings in general. When he decides that a certain Dark Lord should be his mate, all hell breaks out.

Warnings: male/male relationship later, dark!Harry, confused!Snape, character death, mention of bestiality. Oh, and everyone's probably horribly OOC…

Spoiler Warnings: none - this is AU through and through (obviously, since he gets abandoned before the books really get started)

Disclaimers: I do not own the canon Harry Potter characters who make an appearance, I do, however, own the idea of Nye, shadow vipers, and the plot.

AN: This is my response to the 'Child of Serpent' set by PxW at thesilversnitch, and my first completed Harry Potter fic - please review :)

Challenge Instructions: 1.The magical serpent can be anything as long as it is part snake or takes snake form. 2. Harry has to learn to become an animagus and takes the form of a silver or black serpent. 3. Voldemort initially thinks Harry is just an unknown species of poisonous snake and takes him as a pet. 4. There must be a scene where Harry fiercely defends his mate.

**The Serpent Ascendant**

Voldemort had been much impressed by the white coatl who had paid him a visit the previous summer. The creature had put him in mind of a serpentine version of Lucius Malfoy: loyal only to itself; fully aware of - and prepared to capitalise on - its good looks; and with a silver tongue to rival his own. That and he had sensed all the power contained within its long, lithe body. Nagini, on the other hand, hadn't been at all impressed by what she viewed as an impingement on _her_ territory. A dry chuckle left his throat at the memory of the coatl calmly dodging the cobra's venomous remarks with a dry wit that had passed completely over the poor snake's head. Really, he would never have imagined that such a creature had come from a forest in the middle of England. Where was it again? Ah, Clipstone forest, in Nottinghamshire…

Hmm… It might just be worth his while to see what other treasures lay waiting to be discovered there. After all, he had nothing that particularly needed his attention where he was. The search for Harry Potter still continued, as fruitlessly as it had done for all the ten years since the blasted boy had vanished. The only comfort he had was that Dumbledore didn't have a clue where the brat was either. Although…thinking about it…there _had_ been a big search of Clipstone forest around that time - apparently the child of an important muggle had gone missing…was it possible that the child they had been searching for was actually Harry Potter? Was it possible that Dumbledore had finally made a critical error of judgement, and that the boy's relatives, supposed to be protecting him with ancient blood magic, had, instead, abandoned him in the forest? It sounded almost too good to be true…but the facts fit…

Yes, Voldemort decided. He would definitely be paying a visit to Clipstone forest in the near future. The _very_ near future.

---

Harry was neither aware of Nye's plans to set him up with Voldemort, nor of Voldemort's plans to visit the forest. However, he sensed the change when the dark wizard arrived, and, as Hades, snuck out of the abandoned sett to investigate.

---

Hades had become a skilled hunter under Nye's tutelage, and whilst unable to fly, he _did_ have the ability to become almost completely invisible. Nye had remarked, on discovering Hades' ability, that its efficiency would most likely increase with age. Still, he could become transparent enough that, if he remained still and in the shadows, he was as good as invisible to any prey that had to see danger coming.

He had also discovered that he was venomous - extremely so. His fangs had barely grazed the first rabbit he attempted to take, and it had died mid-leap, convulsing so hard that its spine snapped. The experience had fascinated him, and he had experimented on various prey - and predators - until he knew exactly how much venom each creature needed to be stunned or killed outright. Until he knew exactly how to strike so that the precise amount of venom was delivered. Until he knew exactly how long it would take for the creature to die, or to awaken from being stunned.

When he had insisted on experimenting on humans, Nye had insisted that he do so far away from the forest, and so he had travelled to the south, killing as Hades, and then arranging the bodies as Harry so that a serial killer stalked the South of England - never caught, and eventually vanishing as completely and suddenly as he had appeared.

He had gained quite the reputation throughout the forest, and throughout the serpent community too, so his arrival in Voldemort's 'court' was…impressive…

---

Voldemort hadn't really known what to expect of Clipstone forest, or rather, the magical inhabitants of the forest. As far south as it was, he was taking quite a risk, but none of his death eaters spoke Parseltongue, and even if they had, he trusted none of them enough to reveal his true reasons for the journey. He had reasoned that, if Harry Potter _had_ been abandoned in the forest, and had subsequently neither been seen nor sensed, it meant one of two things. The boy had somehow learned to conceal himself - probably in self-defence - or he had left the forest not long after being abandoned, either by dying or perhaps muggles. In either case, it was most likely that he would have been, at some point, seen by one of the serpents in the forest - serpents who would gladly tell him everything if they had seen the boy.

One thing was certain though. Voldemort had _not_ expected representatives of all the serpents in the forest to find and greet him, forming an impromptu serpent's 'court'. Of course, even without Nagini's prompting, Voldemort knew better than to act on his impatient desire to scour the forest for traces of his nemesis, and so he settled himself to the ground, and the talks commenced.

For the most part the conversations were nothing more than serpents seeking his reassurances that, as long as they refused to go against him, his forces would leave them in peace. Such reassurances were easily given, and wholeheartedly sincere. Others - mainly the younger set - were eager to know how they could help his crusade against the humans who routinely disturbed the forest's natural balance. Voldemort was now aware that he had a powerful guerrilla army - deep in the heart of his enemy's territories - in his reptilian supporters, although he was not so naïve as to believe that, should the tide of the war turn heavily against him, the snakes would look to anything other than saving their own skins. He didn't mind that - such was, after all, the very nature of a serpent, a nature he both prized and aspired to - when those with that nature were honest about it.

But none of the snakes could tell him anything about the boy he sought - the abandoned Harry Potter - and the white coatl was conspicuously absent. Voldemort was forced to conclude that either the boy had died, or he had not been abandoned in the first place. He could not believe that, had muggles taken him away, his death eaters - or, gods forbid, Dumbledore's lackeys - would have failed to find a trace for so long. All of which left him no closer to finding and neutralising the threat he had inadvertently created. Of course, Dumbledore wasn't either, scant consolation though that thought was.

A brief commotion towards the outside of the deep ring of serpents had Voldemort looking up sharply, and Nagini hastily slithering to her master's side from where she had been preening under the attention of those trying to curry favour.

"What iss it?" Voldemort hissed, both at his familiar and the serpents nearest to him. His sibilants were pronounced, but not quite so clearly as a true snake's.

"I do not know, massster." Nagini hissed in reply, baffled by her inability to isolate the newcomer's scent, drowned as it was by the fear-scent all the other serpents were suddenly giving off.

"Hadesss…" The whispered…name? Title? Curse?…Went up from the gathered serpents as they quickly moved apart, opening up a clear path between the clearing's edge and Voldemort. "Hadesss…" The sigh of awe and respect went up from the females of the group this time. Voldemort stared down the clearing, unable to see anything until, where the shadows of the treeline met the sunlit edge of the clearing, there was movement and, almost out of nowhere, a long, black serpent appeared.

---

Voldemort stared, not quite sure what he should - or did - feel. He had never seen a snake quite like the one he was now staring at, but he found himself quite fascinated. The creature was young - probably just starting to enter his prime - and incredibly beautiful, although it did not seem to be aware of quite how mesmerising it was. For a moment longer the tableau held, tall, black serpent poised regally at the edge of the forest, dark gaze locked with the crimson stare of the dark wizard Voldemort.

In that moment, both Hades and Voldemort realised several things.

Hades realised that he wanted the dark wizard as his mate - he could feel the other's magic calling to his own. He also realised that the king cobra poised protectively at the man's side would have to be…removed.

Voldemort, on his part, realised that, far from being completely black, the snake had silver, lightning-bolt markings down its spine. He also came to the decision that, whatever it took, he wanted this snake by his side - forever, which further led to the conclusion that he would have to…dispose…of Nagini. The cobra had been useful in the past, but she refused to share, and really, there was nothing…unique…about a king cobra as a familiar…

Nagini, on her part, seemed to sense her master's favour wavering, and boldly slid in front of him to confront the upstart young snake, who seemed to think he could take her master away from her. She wasn't scared - after all, hadn't she driven away that impertinent white coatl just the other year? So what that she didn't recognise what type of snake this was. How much more dangerous than a coatl could it be?

"He isss mine." She hissed, warningly, ignoring Voldemort's silent command to desist in her actions, or the fact that the snakes around him were urging him to let the situation sort itself out. She agreed with them of course - she would trounce the upstart and demonstrate once again to her master why _she_ was his familiar.

---

Hades watched the king cobra's posturing with veiled contempt. It was clear the creature had no idea what she was facing - although he had his doubts as to her sanity anyway. The question was, did he want to demonstrate his power and cruelty to his mate by merely using enough venom to kill the cobra slowly and agonisingly - the other serpents already knew his reputation - or did he simply want to demonstrate his power and ruthlessness by using enough venom for an instant kill? He decided to let the stupid creature choose for herself…

"Only if you can keep him." He taunted, watching as rage suffused the other's movements, making them jerky and stiff. "If you asssk nicely I'll make your death quick and painless." He offered, knowing she would not take him up on the offer, just as she would not back down.

"Insssolent upssstart!" She hissed angrily, hood flaring as she slid closer towards him. The serpents either side of them wisely backed further away, not wishing to be caught in any crossfire.

"Ssso." He considered her, still poised at the edge of the clearing, appearing relaxed, but tensed in readiness. "Fat and ssslow. What makesss you think you ssstand a chance againssst me?" Nagini's eyes flashed, her tongue flickering out angrily in his direction. So she had some sense, Hades mused, realising that she was trying to learn more about him. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't going to learn much. Nye had taught him well when it came to disguising both his magic and his scent.

"No mannersss whatsssoever…" Nagini taunted him back. "What makesss you think that you are worthy to take my place? You who ssslithersss around in the dussst and dirt, feeding on vermin." A ripple passed up Hades' body - the closest he'd ever managed to come to a shrug in his serpent-form. Nagini seemed to take it as an indication that her barb had struck home, and quietly hissed a laugh.

"Well, there'sss the fact that I wouldn't ssstarve if my massster forgot to feed me. In fact, he wouldn't need to feed me, sssince I at leassst have the ssskill to catch my own food." The double slur - that she was a burden to her master and lacked any hunting ability - did not go unnoticed by Nagini. It drover her into a rage, as Hades had intended.

Abandoning any and all of her subtle attempts to draw closer to the black snake, Nagini launched herself towards him. 120 pounds of enraged female king cobra hurtled across the gap between them, mouth gaping and fangs extended, fully prepared to inject as much venom as she could into the insolent snake's body. Time slowed, and for a moment, as Hades opened his mouth and flicked his tongue across her nose, it seemed as though the collision would be a parody of a human kiss. Then, in a flicker of movement too fast to follow, Hades had moved, and Nagini, carried by her own momentum, crashed into the undergrowth.

Lazily, Hades wound his way towards Voldemort, the dark wizard and shadow viper sizing each other up. Half-way there, Nagini emerged from the bramble bush, spitting leaves and - though Hades hadn't thought it possible - even angrier than before.

"Ssstay away from him!" She hissed, the anger-scent rolling off her in thick waves. Hades paused, turning his head to regard her coolly.

"I ssshould make you sssuffer for your insssolence." He hissed warningly. "You are _dead_ cobra. But I can end it ssswiftly if you ssstop tesssting my patience." A collective shiver ran through the watching serpents, but Nagini - unlike Voldemort - was oblivious.

"He isss mine." She hissed insistently. "You will take him over my dead body!" Hades seemed amused.

"Yesss." He agreed easily. "I alwaysss intended to. I don't tolerate rivalsss." Voldemort watched with interest as Nagini obviously gathered herself together. He had seen her fight off other rivals for his affections before, that was, after all, how she had come to be his current familiar - by killing off his previous familiar. But this time he could clearly see that she was hopelessly outclassed. What had him intrigued was the way the black snake was demonstrating an almost human capacity for calculated cruelty - he had no doubts that the earlier threat of a slow and painful death had been deliberate, not some sort of elaborate bluff - and he wouldn't have been surprised to learn that it was well acquainted with the white coatl that had also fascinated him.

Nagini was also, slowly, beginning to wonder if, this time, she had taken on more than she could handle. Her instinct for self-preservation was starting to scream at her, but still, she had chosen Voldemort as _her_ mate, and she would not give him up without a fight. Besides which, she had a strong suspicion - confirmed by the last threat - that, even were she to renounce her position and flee, the black snake would hunt her down and kill her - just to make sure she didn't have a change of heart. She had already discovered that he was far, far faster than she, so she would simply have to be much more cunning…

---

Hades watched Nagini thinking, her thoughts almost embarrassingly clear. She had realised that she was trapped, with no way out, and facing an opponent much faster than she was. Now she would most likely try to be too cunning for her own good…

Suddenly tired of the whole debacle, Hades lunged backwards, striking slowly at the king cobra. Nagini hissed a laugh at his attack and twisted gracefully away - but not quite fast enough to avoid the fang that slipped between her scales to lightly scratch her skin. She paid the slight wound no mind, laughing at the other snake again.

"Ssso - not asss good asss you thought." She taunted, twitching slightly as a tremor of pain ran along her nerves. She must have pulled a scale in extracting herself from the undergrowth after her own, failed, attack.

"No." The other snake agreed, far too complacently, watching her intently as she shuddered again. "Better." Suddenly horrified, Nagini realised that the pain was _not_ due to something as mundane as a pulled scale. Another shudder racked her body, this one feeling more intense, as though a hot coal had been applied to every nerve ending. She convulsed, feeling too ill to even contemplate striking out at the black snake again.

Voldemort's crimson eyes were shining as he extended a hand towards the black snake, completely ignoring the cries of his dying familiar.

"I am Lord Voldemort." He hissed, bowing his head politely. "I would be honoured to know who, and what, you are." Holding perfectly still, he allowed the black snake to circle him, testing the air and tasting his magic. Apparently satisfied with whatever it found after two circuits, the black snake took his invitation and sinuously wound its way up his arm to drape around his neck and shoulders.

"I am Hadesss." The snake whispered into his ear. "I am a ssshadow viper - and you are my mate."


	3. The Dark Truth

Category: Book

Sub Category: Harry Potter

Series Title: Serpentine

Title: The Dark Truth

Genres: General - cause I can't think what else it would go under, really

Language: English

Author: Zephyr5

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Challenge Response: Harry was abandoned by the Dursleys at the tender age of four, and a magical serpent took him in and brought him up. He grows up into a wild child who only understands Parseltongue, wants to be a real snake, and dislikes human beings in general. When he decides that a certain Dark Lord should be his mate, all hell breaks out.

Warnings: male/male relationship later, dark!Harry, confused!Snape, character death, mention of bestiality. Oh, and everyone's probably horribly OOC…

Spoiler Warnings: none - this is AU through and through (obviously, since he gets abandoned before the books really get started)

Disclaimers: I do not own the canon Harry Potter characters who make an appearance, I do, however, own the idea of Nye, shadow vipers, and the plot.

AN: This is my response to the 'Child of Serpent' set by PxW at thesilversnitch, and my first completed Harry Potter fic - please review :)

Challenge Instructions: 1.The magical serpent can be anything as long as it is part snake or takes snake form. 2. Harry has to learn to become an animagus and takes the form of a silver or black serpent. 3. Voldemort initially thinks Harry is just an unknown species of poisonous snake and takes him as a pet. 4. There must be a scene where Harry fiercely defends his mate.

**The Dark Truth**

Hades quickly discovered that life with Voldemort was even more interesting than life in the forest. Admittedly, his inability to understand anything other than Parseltongue was a hindrance when it came to comprehending the meetings between his mate and his mate's servants, but Voldemort was more than willing to explain things to him afterwards. He learnt much of the politics behind dealing with treacherous supporters and cunning enemies in this way. He also expanded his knowledge of magic, since Voldemort also tended to cast spells with Parseltongue incantations - his enemies never knew what was being used on them, and so didn't know how, or when, to defend themselves.

He also learned about the intimacies between two men - mainly by spying on two of his mate's favourite servants. It seemed that for all the verbal shows of hatred between the two, the one with the silver eyes and the one who stank of treacherous magic actually cared a great deal for each other. He didn't understand why his questions about this interplay between the two sparked so much laughter from his mate.

On Voldemort's side, the Dark Lord discovered that his new familiar and 'mate', was extremely curious, as well as extremely intelligent and quick-witted. The shadow viper had quickly come to understand why he allowed Severus to believe that his treachery was unknown, and also to understand the ways in which he treated his other servants. Neither was the reasoning behind his acts of terror beyond the creature's comprehension, and, in fact, Hades had taken his ideas and actually managed to improve on some of them. For instance, they had discovered that when Hades used his poison to deliver his victims to a lingering and painful death, the corpses looked, for all intents and purposes, as though they had been killed by the cruciatus - without the early release of organ failure, or the blissfully unfeeling fall into insanity. They had both basked in the wave of terror that had spread throughout the wizarding world.

The creature's fascination with the relationship between Lucius and Severus though, was most intriguing. Voldemort attributed Hades' burning curiosity about all aspects of sex between two men to the lack of sense such a thing would make to a snake. After all, snakes did not mate for pleasure, but for procreation, and there was no such thing as a same-sex pairing between snakes. He was also surprised to find that he could still blush, when Hades' inability to comprehend the idea of a prostate led to a practical demonstration - that ended with Voldemort being thoroughly fucked by his familiar's tail, and achieving the most intense orgasm he'd ever had.

But, barely a year after Hades had joined the Dark Lord, the forces of 'light' finally decided to take the offensive. They were led by Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, who had apparently given up hope of ever finding his prophesied saviour - Harry Potter. Hades never connected the name with his own human-form's name, and Voldemort - who didn't even know that his pet was actually an animagus - never even thought about the two in conjunction, except to sometimes wistfully dream of the boy dying under the influence of his familiar's deadly poison.

* * *

Dumbledore had known since the second year after Harry Potter's disappearance that it would likely come down to this. His search of Clipstone forest - they knew the general area where the Dursleys had dumped the boy, damn them - had drawn a blank, and so, when Voldemort's search - eleven years later - had also drawn a blank, he had begun to plan the final assault. 

His spy in the enemy camp, one Severus Snape, Potions Master at Hogwarts, had informed him of Voldemort's new familiar - a development that was neither welcome nor expected. Nagini's venom, as a king cobra, had a well-known neutralising serum, but this new snake was unfamiliar to even Hagrid - Hogwarts' resident expert on all magical creatures, the more deadly the better - and its venom was, apparently, lethal even when only a scratch was inflicted. Of course, they didn't know that Hades had perfect control over the amount of venom he injected, nor that it was his venom that was responsible for the 'killing cruciatus' - not a spell at all.

So, it was not without some trepidation that, the very next time Voldemort summoned Severus Snape, half a dozen Aurors, led by Albus Dumbledore, apparated with him…only to appear in the middle of a circle of waiting death eaters.

Even outnumbered, the Aurors gave as good as they got - as Voldemort had intended. He had deliberately summoned only lower ranking death eaters, enough to deal with the Aurors, whilst leaving Dumbledore and the traitor, Snape, to him and his familiar…

A familiar who was conspicuous in his absence…

* * *

"Finite incantatem!" 

"Petrificus totalis!"

The first two spells of the exchange between the two most powerful wizards of the time were neither what anyone might have expected, nor aimed at a target anyone might have expected. They were aimed at the 'traitor', Severus Snape.

The first spell, Voldemort's, broke the imperius curse that had been dictating the man's actions and had been cast years earlier by Albus Dumbledore. The second spell, Dumbledore's, effectively removed a very confused Snape from the fight.

"Expelliarmus!"

An Auror, managing to break away from the fight with the death eaters, cast the spell past Dumbledore, relieving Voldemort of his wand. Somewhat disconcertingly, the dark wizard smiled, as if the Auror had done him a great favour. Ignoring the smirk plastered across Voldemort's face, Dumbledore advanced, wand at the ready.

"Mine!" Eyes blazing, Hades appeared as if from nowhere, interposing his body between his wandless mate and the advancing wizard, hissing his warning, his determination, and his increasing displeasure. Dumbledore paused, scowling, then flicked his wand dismissively.

"Petrificus totalis." It was said almost contemptuously. Hades felt the magic wrap around him, holding his body immobile and rendering him impotent. He needed a way to break the bindings, but only his human-form could cast magic, and…he suddenly realised that the very act of transformation would be enough to throw off the binding magic.

Reaching down inside himself, as he hadn't done for so long, he found the memory of his human self within his soul, grasped his magic, and forced the two to merge. Everyone in the room froze as the black snake vanished, replaced by a tall, naked young man with long, wild black hair, blazing green eyes…and a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

Harry hissed angrily at the wizard in front of him, who was gaping soundlessly.

"H-Harry?" The old man gasped out, softly, blinking in disbelief.

"Leave my mate alone, old man…" Harry hissed warningly, not understanding what had been said.

"Harry…my boy…we thought you were dead…" Anger flared as the wizard who had threatened his mate refused to back down, instead making noises at him. Interpreting the sounds as a challenge, Harry hissed a final warning.

"Leave or die!" The wizard remained where he was, but half raised a hand towards him - the hand holding the magic stick… Harry's eyes blazed in fury.

Ignoring Voldemort's wand, and ignorant of the stunned expression on his mate's face, Harry grasped the magic within himself, and channelled it outwards, through his hands, as he had learned to do under Nye's tutelage.

"Avada kedavra." He hissed the spell that he had learned by listening to his mate's spell-casting, gratified when the green light gathered about him and then shot towards the old wizard who had dared to threaten his mate. The light vanished into the man, who promptly crumpled to the floor, a comical expression of confusion on his face. Harry squinted around the room, unable to see properly without the glasses that he had lost a long time ago. Seeing that there was nothing - and no one - now threatening his mate, he quickly transformed back into his serpent form.

* * *

Of course, once the death eaters realised that Harry Potter had defended their Lord, and the Aurors decided that said Lord _obviously_ had their saviour Harry Potter under some sort of imperius-like curse, the battle was rejoined. 

That left Voldemort and Severus Snape - whose bindings had been released upon Dumbledore's death - free to do nothing more than dodge the occasional stray curse, and try to come to terms with the knowledge that the saviour of the side of the 'light' was actually a sadistic snake animagus, who had chosen the leader of the 'dark' forces to be his mate.

It was a lot to take in.

They were still trying to come to terms with it when the last Auror fell.

* * *

The death eaters who had been present for the fight lost no time, once dismissed, in spreading the story. Along with the tangible proof that Dumbledore was dead - his head was left on the doorstep of Hogwarts - the story seemed credible, and a wave of fear and despondency spread throughout the forces of 'light', just as a wave of triumph and elation spread throughout the forces of 'dark'. 

Only Severus Snape was present for the 'confrontation' between Harry and Voldemort after the pivotal battle, and even then - unable as he was to understand or speak Parseltongue - he couldn't have told anyone what, exactly, was said between the two wizards. He could speculate of course, but since his speculations were rather along the lines that Voldemort was on his hands and knees pleading with his familiar to come out from under the bed, he wisely wasn't about to go broadcasting them…even if it was almost, cute…

* * *

"Harry Potter - come out from under there thiss insstant." Voldemort had already tried using magic to extract the snake - with a tangible lack of success. Hades had, apparently, discovered that he could cast most of his defensive spells just as well in snake form as in human form - probably since he'd learned to focus his magic without the aid of a wand. 

Now the Dark Lord was attempting to coax him out with a mixture of threats, promises and the judicious waving of potential food. Unfortunately Hades' ability to go without food was more than a match for the Dark Lord's patience, and said Dark Lord had no experience in talking teenagers out of anything - least of all a very determined sulk. It didn't help that Voldemort had absolutely no idea _why_ Hades was sulking.

Truth be told, neither did Hades. He hadn't been at all happy about being forced to reveal his human form, and was even less pleased by his mate's new insistence on calling him by his human name, but… He just knew that everything between them was going to change now. Which was a shame, because he'd come to enjoy those occasional nights when Voldemort would huskily enquire whether he understood about the prostate gland yet. His mate was so beautiful when he was writhing in ecstasy…

"Harry…" His mate's voice broke Hades out of the pleasant memories.

"Don't call me that! My name isss Hadesss!" He spat, shooting out from under the opposite side of the bed, and glaring at Voldemort across it. The Dark Lord took a moment to thank the gods that his familiar's stare alone didn't have the power of the killing curse.

"Hadess then - what iss wrong with you?" Hades' weaved side to side, unsure of himself.

"If I am Harry Potter then you will want nothing more to do with me." He finally hissed, so quietly that Voldemort had to strain to catch the words. "You will sssend me away - like thossse horrible mugglesss who kept me in a cupboard before abandoning me in a foressst." Voldemort was torn between sympathy unbecoming of a Dark Lord - which would probably lead to an embarrassing moment where he tried to reassure his familiar - or incandescent, albeit grateful, rage at the muggles who had dumped him in the forest as a child - which would probably lead to a killing spree…

Forgetting that Severus was loitering patiently in the room beyond, he abandoned his dignity and opted for the former.

"Once, maybe that wass true. But that wass before I met you, before you chosse me ass your mate, and killed Nagini to make me yourss. Before you put your life before mine by putting yoursself between me and Dumbledore, and killed him to protect what iss yourss." He could see Hades was listening intently, although what effect his words were having, he didn't know.

* * *

In the room beyond, Severus goggled at his image in the mirror, and wondered if he had been hit by a confundus charm and was only just noticing - or if Voldemort had been hit by a confundus charm and still _hadn't_ noticed, because the tone of the hisses coming from the bedroom had most definitely changed from 'irritated-but-in-control' to 'gently-coaxing'.

* * *

"Your human form iss nothing to be asshamed of." Voldemort continued, earning himself another glare from Hades. He pushed on regardless. It was more than nice having Hades in his bed - a _lot_ more than nice - and he could just imagine how good it would be to have _Harry_ in his bed, where he could show the boy just what he'd been doing to him as a snake. "You are beautiful - and jusst ass Hadess hass taken me ass hiss mate, I would take Harry ass my mate." There was a long, tense silence as Hades considered this, then the snake slowly wound his way onto the bed and transformed into Harry. 

"You mean that?" He queried, posture screaming his readiness to flee and transform - or vice versa - should Voldemort spook him. Slowly the Dark Lord moved to join him on the bed.

"With all my being, yess."

* * *

By the time Voldemort recovered sufficiently to remember that Severus was waiting in the other room, Snape had decided that life had left him unfairly prepared to deal with listening to the sounds that had issued forth from Voldermort's bedroom. It had left him sane enough to know what those sounds were. Embarrassingly, this had left him with a slight…problem, which, he decided, was definitely urgent enough to decide to hell with secrecy, and diplomacy. 

"My Lord." He addressed Voldemort, who was clearly still high on what had to be his fourth afterglow. "Please, either let me go, or summon Lucius." There was a snicker from the bedroom doorway, and Severus glanced over, instantly regretting it as his eyes swept over a thoroughly fucked, thoroughly naked, and thoroughly gorgeous Harry Potter. His erection hardened still further, and Severus let out a slight whimper. He had sense enough to tear his eyes away as Voldemort hissed at him for ogling…well, Severus assumed that this meant the two were…mates? Lovers? _Definitely_ lovers.

"Yess, yess, Sseveruss - go celebrate with your lover. I wissh you and he to help sspread the newss of Dumbledore'ss death, and that Harry Potter iss mine." He felt the wards drop, and gratefully apparated away to Malfoy Manor.

Harry snickered again, and transformed back into Hades before slithering back into the bedroom, shooting a come-hither look at his mate.

Voldemort was only too happy to oblige.

AN: yes, this is **the end**, no I'm not writing out the smut scene, all I will say is that despite transforming back into Hades, he doesn't necessarily _stay_ as Hades. Anyone who's interested, there is now a companion fic for Serpentine called Corvine, which covers the same story but from the side of the 'light' – it should clear up a few questions I've had about this, oh, and anyone who has reviewed this chapter already will find responses scattered throughout Corvine -winks-


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